It's a texture thing. I prefer ribbon-cut noodles (they're flat) over "the tubes" or other decorative shapes.

Now a funny a hybrid is bucatini. It's a long tubed noodle with a very narrow hole down the middle. Sauce latches onto that like wow.

And pasta itself can taste different depending on how it is made. Fresh VS dry. Egg-based, wheat-based, tomato-based, spinach-based, chestnut-based, etc. And then al dente comes into play as well.

Pasta is a vessel, but cultures approach it in different ways. The "American" way would be to cook some pasta of some shape and then lump a bunch of sauce over top. The Italian way is to finish the pasta in the sauce - what ends up on the plate is mostly pasta, not sauce. Different balance

This guy knows his pastas.

Also our moms should battle it out for best Carbonara! Haha they're close enough to each other that this is actually possible, because I think my mom makes the absolute best! >D!!!